Improving Symptom Control, QOL, and Quality of Care for Women with Breast Cancer: Developing a Research Program on Neurological Effects via Doctoral Education

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Bakitas ◽  
Tim A. Ahles
The Breast ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kowalski ◽  
Julia Ferencz ◽  
Sara Y. Brucker ◽  
Rolf Kreienberg ◽  
Simone Wesselmann

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
G.L Beets ◽  
C.N.A Frotscher ◽  
C.D Dirksen ◽  
M.H Hebly ◽  
M.F von Meyenfeldt

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alze Pereira dos Santos Tavares ◽  
Carolina Paparelli ◽  
Carolina Sassaki Kishimoto ◽  
Silvia Avo Cortizo ◽  
Karen Ebina ◽  
...  

Background: Gathering clinical evidence data on patients’ palliative care needs is paramount to identify changes in outcomes over time and maintaining on-going quality improvement. Implementation of patient-centred outcome measures has been widely recommended. The routine use of these instruments in daily practice is challenging and not widespread. Aim: To implement a patient-centred outcome measure in daily practice and fulfil one quality indicator: improve pain during the 72 h after admission, in at least 75% of patients. Design: An observational prospective study. The Palliative care Outcome Scale was used at admission (T0), third day (T1) and weekly. Setting/participants: Hospital palliative care unit with 17 individual rooms. All patients admitted to the unit were included in the study. Results: Preliminary results ( N = 84) revealed inconsistent and missing data (14%). Symptoms were sub-optimally controlled by T1. Processes changed, and only a team member could apply Palliative care Outcome Scale. Doctors were encouraged to grasp the meaning of Palliative care Outcome Scale results for each patient. The post-pilot included 317 patients. No missing data occurred. There was an improvement in most items between T0 and T1: ‘pain’ and ‘other symptoms’ presented statistical significant differences ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: Implementing a patient-centred outcome measure in a hospital palliative care service is feasible and improves quality of care. Controlling high pain at T0 improved (>80%) by T1. Results became more consistent and symptom control was improved overall. Patients are evaluated based on holistic domains by an interdisciplinary team and we have added a much needed measure to help guide improvement of the quality of care provided.


1985 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 491-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Liberati ◽  
Carlo Confalonieri ◽  
Gemma Martino ◽  
Renato Talamini ◽  
Marcello Tamburini ◽  
...  

Patients’ assessment of quality of care was investigated in 825 women with breast cancer treated in a group of specialized and non-specialized institutions in Italy. A 10-page mail questionnaire explored patients’ adjustment to the disease, satisfaction with care, and quality of the information on diagnosis and treatment. Most of the 428 (52 %) responders reported good or acceptable adjustment to the disease (as reflected by acceptable performance in some daily living activities), and favorable judgment about care providers, but many women complained of hospital organizational deficiencies. A contradictory picture emerged regarding the quality of information. Completeness and thoroughness appeared seriously deficient when examined objectively using a series of explicit predefined criteria, but patients’ assessments showed in most cases moderate or high satisfaction. The paper presents these results and discusses pros and cons in the use of patients’ opinions for evaluation of quality of care.


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 2614-2614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne S. Mandelblatt ◽  
Patricia A. Ganz ◽  
Katherine L. Kahn

ABSTRACT: Cancer is an important disease, and health care services have the potential to improve the quality and quantity of life for cancer patients. The delivery of these services also has recently been well codified. Given this framework, cancer care presents a unique opportunity for clinicians to develop and test outcome measures across diverse practice settings. Recently, the Institute of Medicine released a report reviewing the quality of cancer care in the United States and called for further development and monitoring of quality indicators. Thus, as we move into the 21st century, professional and regulatory agencies will be seeking to expand process measures and develop and validate outcomes-oriented measures for cancer and other diseases. For such measures to be clinically relevant and feasible, it is key that the oncology community take an active leadership role in this process. To set the stage for such activities, this article first reviews broad methodologic concerns involved in selecting measures of the quality of care, using breast cancer to exemplify key issues. We then use the case of breast cancer to review the different phases of cancer care and provide examples of phase-specific measures that, after careful operationalization, testing, and validation, could be used as the basis of an agenda for measuring the quality of breast cancer care in oncology practice. The diffusion of process and outcome measures into practice; the practicality, reliability, and validity of these measures; and the impact that these indicators have on practice patterns and the health of populations will be key to evaluating the success of such quality-of-care paradigms. Ultimately, improved quality of care should translate into morbidity and mortality reductions.


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